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Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (soundtrack)
}} |rev2 = Filmtracks |rev2score = |rev3 = Movie Wave |rev3score = }}John Williams' score for Star Wars (the film was re-titled upon its initial re-release as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) was recorded over eight sessions at Anvil Studios in Denham, England on March 5, 8–12, 15 and 16, 1977. The score was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra with Williams himself conducting. The score was orchestrated by frequent Williams' associate Herbert W. Spencer, who also orchestrated The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The score was recorded by engineer Eric Tomlinson and edited by Kenneth Wannberg, and the scoring sessions were produced by Star Wars creator George Lucas and supervised by Lionel Newman, head of 20th Century Fox's music department. The film premiered on May 25, 1977, and by late summer a disco version of the Star Wars Theme by Meco became America's number one song. In 2005, the American Film Institute named the original Star Wars soundtrack as the most memorable score of all time for a US film. Original pressing The original 1977 release of the soundtrack, entitled Star Wars - Original Soundtrack, included a poster of a painting by science fiction artist John Berkey, depicting the final battle over the Death Star from the film's end. The album was released as a double LP which was formatted for an autochanger record player; one disc had sides one and four with the other having sides two and three. This allowed a person to stack sides one and two on the player, then flip the stack over for sides three and four, allowing the listener to have over half an hour of uninterrupted music before they needed to flip the discs over. Track listing for the first release on LP * First release on LP by 20th Century. For the original soundtrack, John Williams selected 75 minutes of music out of the 88-minute score. To provide musical variety, it did not follow the film's chronological order. SIDE one #"Main Title"– 5:20 #"Imperial Attack" – 6:10 (8-track - 6:25) #"Princess Leia's Theme" – 4:18 (8-track - 4:20) #"The Desert and the Robot Auction" – 2:51 SIDE two #"Ben's Death and TIE Fighter Attack" – 3:46 #"The Little People Work" – 4:02 #"Rescue of the Princess" – 4:46 #"Inner City" – 4:12 #"Cantina Band" – 2:44 (8-track, Part I - 1:45) SIDE three (8-track PROGRAM 3, Cantina Band, Part II - 1:06) #"The Land of the Sandpeople" – 2:50 #"Mouse Robot and Blasting Off" – 4:01 #"The Return Home" – 2:46 #"The Walls Converge" – 4:31 #"The Princess Appears" – 4:04 (8-track, Part I - 3:11) SIDE four (8-track, The Princess Appears, Part II - 1:00) #"The Last Battle" – 12:05 #"The Throne Room and End Title" – 5:28 Total Time: 74:58 Track listing for the first release on CD * First release on CD by Polydor. Disc one #"Main Title" – 5:20 #"Imperial Attack" – 6:10 #"Princess Leia's Theme" – 4:18 #"The Desert and the Robot Auction" – 2:51 #"Ben's Death and TIE Fighter Attack" – 3:46 #"The Little People Work" – 4:02 #"Rescue of the Princess" – 4:24 #"Inner City" – 4:12 #"Cantina Band" – 2:44 Disc two #"The Land of the Sandpeople" – 2:50 #"Mouse Robot and Blasting Off" – 4:01 #"The Return Home" – 2:46 #"The Walls Converge" – 4:31 #"The Princess Appears" – 4:04 #"The Last Battle" – 12:05 #"The Throne Room and End Title" – 5:28 ''Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology'' In 1993, 20th Century Fox Film Scores released a four-CD box set containing music from the original Star Wars Trilogy. This release marked the first time that the complete contents of the original double-LP releases of the scores from the first two films became available on CD. Disc one in the set was devoted to Star Wars, with further tracks on disc four. Since every cue is recorded several times, usually with varying orchestral differences, the final decisions on what takes of cues are used and/or how they are edited to create the tracks was decided by the music editor Kenneth Wannberg. In the time between the original LP release and the Anthology's release, this breakdown was lost. Because of this, many takes of cues used in the Anthology are not the same. This is most obvious on the cue "The Throne Room" . Also, the tracks were re-arranged to better follow their chronological order in the film. Track listing for the Special Edition reissue Awards For main title Tied with Close Encounters of the Third Kind See also *''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' *''The Story of Star Wars'' *''Star Wars'' music References Category:Star Wars Category:Soundtracks Category:Media